The two crewmen of a tugboat that sank off the Golden Fleece, Essequibo foreshore on Friday are still missing and their families are not giving up hope that they may still be alive.
Nigel Goriah of Charlestown and Terrence Hinds of ‘B’ Field, Sophia, who are feared dead are still missing three days after the vessel sank.
Yesterday, relatives of both of the men travelled to Essequibo to see what they could find out as the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) Coast Guard joined the search.
Police in a press release on Saturday had said that the river mishap occurred around 12.30 am on Friday, adding that investigations revealed that motor tug William J had been tied to a pontoon that was being pulled by another tug, Sea Quest.
Four men, Captain Roopnarine, 59, of Albouystown; sailor Ray Richards, 19, of Kuru Kururu; engineer of the vessel Hinds and Goriah were aboard the William J when tragedy struck.
Police said that the vessels which had been en route to the Waini area encountered heavy rain and high winds causing the tug William J to take in water and sink. The tow rope leading from the pontoon to the Sea Quest also snapped and the pontoon drifted and ended up at the Queenstown, Essequibo, foreshore.
Roopnarine and Richards had managed to grab on to a ‘fish pen’ post in the water and had been rescued around 8 am on Friday by the crew of a passing fishing vessel.
Recounting how they heard about the incident yesterday, Goriah’s sister, Onica Sandiford said that another fisherman told the family about it.
They spoke to the owner of the boat, who confirmed that this was so and the two men were missing. Sandiford recalled that her brother had returned from the interior two weeks previously after contracting malaria and Hinds had asked him if he wanted to go with the tug and he agreed. The boat had left on Tuesday and yesterday relatives said that the tug was very old. Sandiford said that when she managed to contact the captain yesterday afternoon, he told her that as the boat was going under, Hinds had jumped from the tug in an attempt to grab hold of a rope attached to the pontoon but had missed. He wasn’t wearing a life-jacket. She said that the man told her that her brother jumped after him, wearing his life-jacket. She noted that the man said that the area was very dark and though they kept calling for the men, they received no answer.
Meantime, Hinds’ reputed wife, O. David, known as Grace-Ann told Stabroek News that the father of her 12-year-old daughter had left home on Tuesday morning, stating that he was going with the tug. David said that Hinds does not normally work with that particular vessel and “is just a trip that he had to make”. She revealed that early Thursday morning, she received a telephone call from him and he reportedly told her that they were turning back because the boat was taking on water. She said that after not hearing anything further, she assumed that they had resumed the trip to Waini.
As family members made the journey to Essequibo to help in whatever way they could, the GDF joined the search by deploying a motor lifeboat early yesterday morning. According to a press statement from the force, the search and rescue operation was initiated after the Coast Guard was informed on Saturday evening that two members of the sunken vessel were missing. The statement said that an initial report on Friday had indicated that the vessel had sunk but all the crew members were rescued by another tug in the area. The GDF said that the search and rescue operation is meant to cover 200 square nautical miles with the search area being marked off at 10 x 20 nautical miles in the vicinity where the vessel reportedly sank. This surface patrol will be complemented by an aerial patrol this morning, the statement said.
Meanwhile, the families are not giving up hope. “I ain’t get the feeling that anything happen to him”, Sandiford stated, adding that her brother is a “fighter”.
David stated “I am hoping for the best
